Economic Contribution of
Hospitals Often Overlooked
In 2009, America’s hospitals treated 127 million people in their emergency departments, provided care
for 515 million other outpatients, performed 27 million surgeries, and delivered 4 million babies. Every
year, hospitals provide vital health care services like these to millions of people in thousands of
communities. However, the importance of hospitals to their communities extends far beyond health care.
The health care sector is an economic
mainstay, providing stability and even
growth during times of recession. Health
care has added an average of 24,000 jobs
per month over the prior 12 months.
Hospital care is an important component of
the health care sector. Hospitals:
■ Employ over 5.4 million people.
■ Are the second largest source of private
sector jobs.
■ Spend about $342 billion on goods and
services from other businesses.
The goods and services hospitals purchase
from other businesses create additional
economic value for the community. With
these “ripple effects” included, each
hospital job supports about two more jobs
and every dollar spent by a hospital
supports roughly $2.30 of additional
business activity. Overall hospitals:
■ Support one of 9 jobs in the U.S.
■ Support over $2.2 trillion in economic
activity.
Read more in Beyond Health Care: The
Economic Contribution of Hospitals at
www.aha.org under “Research and Trends.”
Hospitals employ over 5.4 million people . . .
Number of Full-time and Part-time Hospital Employees 1993–2009
Millions
5.4 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5.3 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5.2 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5.1 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5.0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.9 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.8 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.7 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.6 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.5 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.4 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.3 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.2 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.1 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4.0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09
SOURCE: Avalere Health analysis of American Hospital Association Annual Survey data,
2009, for community hospitals.
. . . and create over 2.2 trillion dollars of economic
activity.
Impact of Community Hospitals on U.S. Economy (in $ billions) 2009
$2,237
■ Direct Effect
■ Ripple Effect
■ Total Contribution
$811
$338
$1,557
$680
$473
Impact on Wages & Salaries
Impact on Economy
SOURCE: Avalere Health, using BEA RIMS-II (1997/2006) multipliers, released in 2008,
applied to 2009 American Hospital Association Annual Survey data.
Impact of Community Hospitals on U.S. Economy; All States, DC and Total U.S., 2009
Source: Avalere Health, State data uses BEA RIMS-II (2002/2008) multipliers for hospital NAICS Code 622, released 2011, applied to
American Hospital Association Annual Survey data for 2009. Hospital jobs are total part time and full time jobs. Hospital labor income is
defined as payroll plus benefits. The percent of total employment supported by direct and indirect hospital employment is based on 2009
BLS data. Expenditures are defined as net patient revenue + other operating revenue.
* The “multiplier” is the factor by which spending in one sector of the economy affects other sectors. For example, nationally
each hospital results in a total of 2.8 jobs in the economy as a whole because hospital employees use their wages to
purchase goods and services which creates income and jobs for other businesses.
**Multipliers (2002/2008) released in 2011 and used for state data no longer include national level multipliers. National totals
use BEA RIMS-II (1997/2006) multipliers.
June 2011